1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to apparatus used for the therapeutic manipulation of a person's feet for purposes of stimulating blood and lymphatic circulation, exercising muscles of the legs and feet, as well as massaging of the soles of the feet. In particular, the present invention is directed to a single device capable of producing all of these therapeutic treatments.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of continuous passive motion (CPM) for the therapeutic stimulation of the feet and legs in many post surgical and nonsurgical situations is well known. In one form of such physiotherapy, an alternating flexion-extension of the ankle joint, that simulates walking, has been used for stimulation of blood circulation in the feet and legs of persons who are confined in a bed or to a wheelchair, or cannot exercise their legs for whatever reasons. In another mode of such physiotherapy, a simultaneous rhythmic dorsiflexion of both feet has been used to produce a pumping action that creates a dynamic upward force affecting fascia, muscle, skeletal, and abdominal mass as well as increasing the doming of the diaphragm. Such a pumping action applies intermittent positive-negative pressures on both the lungs and abdomen as well as stimulates circulation of fluids in the fascia, muscles, etc. in a way to produce a beneficial effect on body healing processes, as is reflected in various articles on the subject. Such therapy has also been found useful in reducing the risk of the occurrence of venous thrombosis in operative, bedridden and post operative patients.
Additionally, foot manipulation is used in physiotherapeutic treatment of such common foot problems as plantar faciatis and metatarsalgia, both of which are painful conditions of the sole of the foot. In particular, massaging of the soles of the feet has been used to reduce the inflammation of the plantar fascia and to reduce the pain at the heads of the metatarsal bones of the feet, symptomatic of these two common foot problems.
Traditionally, the above-noted manipulative physiotherapy has been performed by a trained physiotherapist. However, in recent years devices have been developed for the purpose of enabling such physiotherapeutic foot manipulation to be carried out without the use of a trained physiotherapist and particularly, in an unattended manner once the device has been activated. For example, for massaging the soles of the feet, such as for relieving the pain of plantar faciatis and metatarsalgia, numerous devices using rollers, balls, and vibrators have been developed. Likewise, for the alternating or simultaneous dorsiflexing of a person's feet, devices are known, for example, from Girten U.S. Pat. No. 3,370,584 and Rodgers, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,255, both of which can produce an alternating or simultaneous pedaling of a person's feet. Furthermore, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,374 to Mizrachy, a method and apparatus for the prevention of venous thrombosis is known which can massage the legs of a patient with rollers as well as produce a pedaling of the feet.
However, all of the physiotherapeutic devices known to date have suffered one or more deficiencies. That is, the prior art devices are complex and expensive to produce, on the one hand, or are either incapable of producing all of the above-noted types of therapeutic manipulations and/or difficult and/or time-consuming to convert from a mode usable for one type of physiotherapy to another.
Accordingly, there is still a need for a multi-mode CPM physiotherapy foot manipulating device that can be produced simply and economically, can produce all of the above-noted types of physiotherapeutic manipulations, and can be easily converted from one mode of physiotherapeutic manipulation to another mode of physiotherapeutic manipulation quickly and easily.